With all of the security issues and malware lately, BIOS to UEFI for Windows 10 deployments is becoming a pretty hot topic (unless you have been living under a rock, UEFI is required for a lot of the advanced security functions in Windows 10). In addition, with the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft has introduced a new utility called MBR2GPT that makes the move to UEFI a non-destructive process. If you have already started deploying Windows 10 UEFI devices, it can be tricky to determine what state these devices are in during a running Task Sequence. The Configuration Manager Team introduced a new class called SMS_Firmware and inventory property called UEFI that helps determine which computers are running in UEFI in Current Branch 1702. This can be used to build queries for targeting and reports, but it would be nice to handle this plus Secure Boot state (and CSM) during a running Task Sequence. We do have the Task Sequence variable called _SMSTSBootUEFI that we will use, but we need to determine the exact configuration in order to execute the correct steps.
There are three different BIOS modes that a system can be running:
Legacy BIOS – also known as BIOS emulation, this requires a MBR partitioned disk in order to boot. Most Windows 7 systems are running this configuration.
UEFI Hybrid – this mode is when a system is running in UEFI, but with the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) (also known as Legacy ROMs) enabled. Unlike Legacy BIOS, this mode requires a GPT partitioned disk in order to boot. Windows 7 can run in this configuration and before there was MBR2GPT, this was the recommended mode to deploy Windows 7 in so that it could be easily upgraded to Windows 10 at a later date without repartitioning the disk.
UEFI Native – this mode is when a system is running in UEFI without the CSM. It also requires a GPT partitioned disk in order to boot. Windows 7 cannot run on a system that is configured for UEFI Native.
Now let’s talk about Secure Boot. Secure Boot and CSM are incompatible – if the CSM is enabled, then you cannot enable Secure Boot. When Secure Boot is enabled, you cannot enable the CSM. Based on this information, we know that Secure Boot will be unsupported in Legacy BIOS and UEFI Hybrid modes (Note: When I say unsupported, I am not talking about if the device is capable of running Secure Boot. Secure Boot requires a device running UEFI 2.3.1 Errata C or later and an operating system capable of running Secure Boot). Configuration Manager currently does not have out of the box functionality for reporting on Secure Boot, but the feature has showed up in the Technical Preview 1703 release. In the meantime, see my blog called Inventory Secure Boot State and UEFI with ConfigMgr on how to extend hardware inventory in Current Branch 1702 or older in order to collect this information.
From this information, we can create a handy chart to help visualize the configuration options:
NOTE: For UEFI Hybrid, Secure Boot State is unsupported if the CSM is enabled, however, an operating system that supports Secure Boot will show that status as Off (Disabled) in System Information.
Now, with this information and MBR2GPT, we should be able to create a single Windows 10 Feature Update Task Sequence for clients Windows 7/8/8.1/10 and it should not matter if they are already running UEFI or Legacy BIOS. The actions that we need to perform do matter and this is where we can set some Task Sequence variables to help with the logic on the various steps. But first, let’s see what needs to be done based on the four configurations above. We already said that Legacy BIOS is the only configuration that uses a MBR partitioned disk. Therefore, this will be the only configuration that we need to run MBR2GPT. When we run MBR2GPT, we also need to configure the device’s firmware settings for UEFI and enable Secure Boot (the Microsoft solution does not do this for you, you are on your own to use the vendor methods to do this piece).
If you are one of the few that took last year’s recommendation and started deploying Windows 7 in UEFI mode, then those systems will be running UEFI Hybrid. We do not need to run MBR2GPT on these systems since they are already running a GPT partitioned disk. We simply need to turn off the CSM (or Legacy ROMs) and enable Secure Boot (once again, the Microsoft solution does not do this for you).
For systems that are running UEFI Native but Secure Boot is not enabled, we simply need to enable Secure Boot. Lastly, for systems that are already running UEFI Native with Secure Boot enabled, we do not need to do anything additional for these systems. Adding these actions to our chart, it makes it very clear what actions need to be done under each scenario:
In a follow blog post, I will go into more detail on how we can use this logic in a single Windows 10 In-Place Upgrade Task Sequence, what the steps look like and where each of them go.
Originally posted on https://miketerrill.net/
